Ethics in translation : an exploration through art, dramatization, literary and political texts

Abstract

In Foucauldian theory, any interpretation is an act of violence, since no text is ever stable and fixed in its meaning. Underlying my thesis is the idea that all translation is interpretation . As such, an ethics of translation can only be found in and measured by the amount of violence, which a translation enacts upon its Source Text. Translation Theorists such as Antoine Berman and Lawrence Venuti have produced useful terms by which to define the kinds of textual violence involved in the translative process: "potentiation", "mythical transformation", domestication and "resistancy". I have applied these terms as parameters in attempting to isolate and analyze the translative process in areas other than textual, namely in Visual Arts and Television dramatizations. In these areas, the violent element in the translation from one medium into another is readily perceptible, as compared with linguistic translation, where violence can take place without the reader's awareness of it. From that point onward, the thesis looks at prominent texts from history and literature, which in translation misinterpreted their sources, and their consequences. One such case is the story of Shylock, initially a translated character, who gained mythical notoriety through dissemination in translation in many cultures. Other examples involve other historical, mainly anti-Semitic icons whose integration into public consciousness owed its success to their politically-motivated mis translation of authoritative texts. In my conclusion to the question of ethics in translation, I put the onus on the translator by equating him/her with what is generally understood to be Chomsky's moral intellectual. My ethical translator will be responsive to the need of the source text to remain inviolable through translation. That would compel the translator to excavate the source text until fully acquainted with it, thus making sure that its translation would be as close to its authentic essence as possible.